Even trident maple leaves don’t get much smaller than this
by glacierosion
Even trident maple leaves don’t get much smaller than this
by glacierosion
13 Comments
I’m growing a crop and I’m hoping they will be worth the time. So far they’ve been pleasant. Like most maples they kind of just… do nebari without asking. I’m not gonna comment on whether they make good bonsai long term, I honestly don’t know. But AFAIK yes, they do reduce dramatically.
I’ve never seen one push leaves this size out of a pre established branch. It only ever seemed to be fresh buds right off of the trunk.
These species suck for other reasons too–mostly their ridiculous internode lengths.
You’re just better off focusing your efforts elsewhere.
Why fight against a tree’s nature, when there are other species that are more suitable?
I have some red maples as they volunteer like crazy around me. Tbd if they’re worth a damn. But they’re good for practice if nothing else.
https://preview.redd.it/wef7o5uksotg1.jpeg?width=3000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=cc0878a658cb31fe9c75bee3a129bb32c0d06814
Silver maple. This is about the only time of year it looks decent, but the leaves will get bigger over the next few weeks.
they’re just young leaves, they will get big, this is not leaf reduction
I have been playing around with these for a while, since my garden has so many seedlings from the big maples in my street.
If i keep them very small, the leaves remain small too, but the taller ones (30 – 40 cm tall) seem to grow big leaves. I am in The Netherlands and buds not out yet, so can’t share pix just yet.
Ps. I am in my third year of Bonsai, so still a novice
Big leaves need a big tree
To answer your question, proportion.
My instructor used to say, there is nothing stopping you from growing a 6″ tall tree with 6″ leaves, just don’t show it when it is in full leaf. Every tree has ‘their thing’ and you select a container to complement that thing. Many people don’t appreciate winter silhouette. I personally do not find Japanese maple in full leaf to be interesting, love the winter silhouette, the new leaves and the fall colors.
In the meantime, go experiment, only you have to be happy with the tree unless you enter a judged competition.
It really doesn’t matter a whole lot when it comes to the late stages.
They dont “suck” to work with. Ppl complain a lot about certain maples not being “ideal” material. What they dont know is you can learn a lot from them. Ive learned more from non bonsai material than ive learned from “bonsai” material. You have to know why they are not as ideal and work around that. You basically need proper proportions, big a$$ trunk lol.
It is a widely held, often repeated notion
My personal experience is that the leaf reduction is measurable but from a proportions standpoint that reduction suggests a larger bonsai specimen in order to look ‘right’ And internode length is tremendously difficult to impossible to control
I just recently picked up a ~7 year old red maple from HD and this is making me really excited